Warheart

Warheart is Terry Goodkind's 18th novel, the fourth and last in the Richard and Kahlan series. It is followed by Death's Mistress. The book starts off where the previous novel, Severed Souls, left off. Warheart was released as a hardcover copy on November 17, 2015.

Contents

Richard's body is about to be cremated when Kahlan sees Hunter who is a messenger from Red and stops going on a hunch that she might be able to bring him back. Kahlan, Nicci and the Mord-Sith follow Hunter to a meeting spot with Red who tells them a way to save Richard by seeing the flow of time. The key is to find a spiritist in the underworld who in turn helps them find another spiritist Naja Moon. They do this by Nicci using her Sister of the Dark knowledge and Kahlan's and Richard's blood. Nicci manages to travel to the underworld with the help of the spiritists and their allies against the Emperor Sulachan's minions holding Richard's spirit and free him. However, Richard still needs a bridge to pass back. During this, they are attacked by undead, and Cara arrives and saves them; she decides to be the bridge and dies in the process. Richard is restored but he has retained the death's touch. During a ceremony for the dead, they are attacked by Sammy and Richard tries to reason with her by explaining why he killed her mother but fails.

With Richard restored, they have to find a way to cure him, but they are too far from any containment field (they are in the Citadel). Richard discovers the Cerulean scrolls which sheds light on prophecy and the Omen Machine (Regula,) revealing that prophecy is from the underworld and has no place in the world of life, and that the anchor is Regula which is also how Sulachan has manipulated the world. Ultimately, Richard has a hunch that there might be a sliph well at Stroyza and they go there along with a dozen men, including Commander Fister. They arrive at Stroyza and discover everyone is dead (revealed that Sammy killed them under the influence of a dark spirit and hate). Sammy ambushes them in the caves and kills all the soldiers but ultimately dies by accident of her own device, collapsing the tunnels on top of her but trapping Richard, Kahlan, and the Mord Sith. They follow the writing on the wall and find the sliph well of Lucy who is a one way sliph between the Wizard's Keep and Stroyza.

They arrive at the Wizard's Keep, but Richard's condition worsens because he takes the Sword of Truth with him through the sliph. The place they arrive is full of souls trapped in the world of the living. After a brief talk with Chase and Verna, they travel to the People's Palace which is under siege by Sulachan and Arc. There Richard talks to Regula and discovers the final pieces of the puzzle for restoring balance to the world. They go to the containment field for the healing, but Richard deceives all and takes Cassia with him to the Wizard's Keep to collect all the souls inside the Sword of Truth, which has been touched by death by traveling in the sliph. Richard had deduced that the souls are of the Half People. He returns again to the People's Palace and confronts Sulachan and traps him using wards in the presence of Regula and the Boxes of Orden, where he unleashes the death inside him through a scream, while plugging his ears with candle wax, thus killing Sulachan, destroying the Boxes of Orden, and returning Regula to the underworld where it belongs. This completes the process started with the Opening of the Boxes of Orden which started the decay of the Veil.

On the way to find Kahlan and stop the fighting, Richard is confronted by Vika and Hannis Arc who has captured Kahlan. Vika fakes loyalty to Hannis Arc by humiliating Richard until the end, whereby she manages to get behind Hannis Arc and kill him with her Agiel. She explains that Hannis Arc's occult powers would have killed Richard and accepts her death sentence for using her Agiel on Richard. Richard instead forgives her and kisses her which he uses as a threat to keep her in line, telling her he will let the other Mord Sith know of the kiss.

Richard releases the spirits who find their bodies and the fighting is over. The restored half-people ask to speak with Richard and then swear fealty to him by reciting the devotion.

The world is restored, and Richard lets everyone know Prophecy is ended and prepares to purge books of prophecy. Vika is the new Mord-Sith that serves as Richard's and Kahlan's protector. Nicci goes with Nathan on his travels, acting as an ambassador for Richard, thus fulfilling his fantasy of an adventurer.

The stars have a new configuration and Richard tells Kahlan that a new Golden Age is starting.